As he tried to figure out the best vector of approach, Claud noticed a couple of stragglers making their way into the local area too. None of them inspired a desire to fight within him, unlike the fellow around two hundred metres away, which was more proof that his current target was probably someone Absolute One wanted dead. That target in question was almost certainly the Third Bearer of Destiny, someone who had tried to do something to him and the others.

Killing was not off the cards.

Claud generally didn’t kill anyone as far as possible, but people who tried to harm the people in his orbit were fair game.

Taking a deep breath, he continued to memorise the contours of the surrounding area, his eyes fixed onto the outlined spot that was the Third’s own hideout. It was unfortunate that he didn’t have the time to set up complex traps, but he would have to make do with the current circumstances.

Now, when should I strike? Something tells me that I should kill the Third before the murderer and the inquisitor cross blades. Letting that person watch the battle can be dangerous, in and of itself. After all, we don’t know what the Awakened form of his Absolute Domination does.

Nibbling on his lips, Claud checked the area once more. Like him, there were already some busybodies already hunkering down not too far from the city walls. It was unlikely that they would notice anything until the moment in which he burst out with Absolute One.

A little blip of mana rose out of his finger, and Claud glanced at it. Did he trust himself to turn such a weak little mana pellet into something capable of killing a mana-user, a mana-user that he had no details on?

The answer was evident.

He didn’t trust himself to do it.

“Time to get down and dirty again,” Claud muttered. “There’s not much time before they finally meet.”

He took a deep breath. No one who came from an underprivileged background was a stranger to death, but if given a choice, he would rather kill someone from a few dozen metres away, instead of getting up close and personal.

Staring at the terrain of the arena he had just designated in his mind, Claud committed the details to memory once more, and then got up from his little hidey-hole. Tearing another skillstrip that contained Presence Nullification, Claud began to approach his destination, keeping a lookout for any nasty traps or weapons that might have been left lying around.

With gentle, measured steps, he closed in on the area he had identified. Without Skyward Eye, it would have been impossible for him to spot the Third, since that bugger’s hiding spot was well-done. If not for the fact that Skyward Eye highlighted any and all man-made objects, Claud wouldn’t have been able to notice it at all.

Muttering some choice words in his mind, Claud walked right up to the area outlined by Skyward Eye. The true mastermind, the owner of Absolute Domination, had simply opted to lie down on the ground and cover himself with lots of cloth and other camouflage tricks. Unfortunately for the true mastermind, he hadn’t taken shelter underneath a tree or some other natural cover, or else Skyward Eye would not have spotted him.

There were so many what-ifs, but unfortunately for this Moondamned murderer, he had messed with the wrong opponent.

I’ll grant you the mercy of a swift death, at most. Rest in peace.

“Absolute One,” Claud muttered.

A sky-shaking might burst out of his very being, and Claud straightened his right hand, turning it into a knife of sorts. Gathering an awesome amount of mana around his right hand, he moulded it to form a blistering edge of blue light. Within three seconds, the undulating azure blade had calmed down, forming a mirror-smooth line that enveloped his right forearm.

“Die.”

Claud brought his right hand down, and a blinding blue light filled his vision. A high-pitched hum followed, engulfing the horrified scream that doubled as the murderer’s last words. He didn’t know what that murderer thought in his or her last moments, nor did he see the need to do so. All Claud could feel was a touch of relief as his foe turned into ash and died.

Without warning, colour fled from the world, and the ground crumbling beneath his feet ceased to move. The howling wind, the rumbling world…all sound had ceased, and Claud found himself unable to even move.

A small screen popped up in front of him a moment later. Unlike the translucent blue he was used to, the small window was a bloody crimson, with the words written on it a ghastly black. Instinctively, Claud understood that this window was addressed not just to him, but to other people…perhaps even every single mana-user in existence.

The four stacked screens winked out, and colour returned to the world once more. However, at the top left of his vision, Claud could now see an hourglass at the top left of his vision, just big enough for him to make out its details.

At the same time, the outcrop and the soil around the area crumbled away, but the feeling of weightlessness lasted only two seconds before Claud activated both Fly and Presence Nullification, using his skills this time. As his vision began to recover, Claud looked down on the ruined landscape, only to note that his sneak attack had been absurdly successful.

There was no need for a showdown, or a confrontation.

Just a single attack, timed when the enemy least expected one to come.

Before he could think of anything else, translucent blue screens appeared in his vision, popping up at such a pace that he felt giddy.

[, has been completed. Calculating result grade]

[Results: Grade 1]

[With your masterful stroke, you took the Third Bearer of Destiny by surprise and executed him with a tranquil fury. For your skill and grace, you have been awarded 72% of his lifespan.]

[FiBoD:A??? has absorbed one Fragment of Fate. Evolution requirements: 1/2]

[Mission Function unlocked]

[Mission available: For the light of the Moons]

[Mission available: For the Dark beyond the stars]

[Mission available: For the Glory of the Gods]

[Mission available: For a Transcendent World]

[You have failed .]

[Alignment locked in. The passive skill, , has been revealed.]

[You have been awarded the passive skill: Understanding!]

Claud shook his head as the translucent blue screens clouded his vision. “What in the name of the Moons is going on here?”

His pocket jiggled, reminding him that he was still at the scene of the, uh, crime. Shaking his head lightly, he stacked the blue screens on top of each other and moved the resulting abomination to the side. This wasn’t the time to take a break and examine things.

Not now. And most certainly not here.

Flying away from the scene of the crime, Claud turned to look at the inquisitors, who were staring at the ruined outcrop blankly. Without waiting any further, he called upon his mana and empowered his Flight, cutting through the skies and hurrying back home as soon as possible. With the true threat — the Third Bearer of Destiny — taken care of, Claud couldn’t care less about the battle between the murderer and inquisitors, assuming that there was even a battle in the first place.

It was an anti-climactic end, but this was the kind of end Claud preferred. After all, had Claud not given into the compulsion of Absolute One, a gigantic battle would have unfolded. The Third, making use of his absolute advantage, would probably have succeeded in his plan. Licencia would probably face a bloodbath, or a fate worse than death.

Killing the root of all these early, through a sneak attack, was a far more palatable alternative.

Descending in front of the city gate, Claud sidestepped a bunch of soldiers, and then hurried into town. From the scattered orders that entered his ears, he knew that the absolute destruction he had wrought on the clueless deceased mastermind had been so overt, to the point that even the people at the city had seen it.

“Your Grace! You must not go!” A frantic voice slipped into Claud’s ears.

Caroline, who was struggling with some of her bodyguards, stamped her feet. “Four blood-red boxes just popped up in our vision, and the cause is almost certainly that explosion over there. And you’re telling me not to go? This city belongs to Aran! I am expected — no, obligated — to know any and all possible threats to his home!”

Claud watched on as she tussled with her bodyguard. It didn’t seem like much, but the cracks spreading out from beneath their feet as they struggled with each other told an entirely different story.

The unfortunate city guards could only step away from the widening cracks beneath the guards and their master, and Claud took the chance to slip through them. Fortunately, since so many people were staring at her, Caroline didn’t notice an extra set of amused gazes, and he returned through the gates of Licencia without any disturbance.

“It’s this quiet, huh.” Claud took a deep breath, and then reset his Band of Duplicity, returning his identification factors to the ones he had before he departed the city.

The other Moon Lords must have noticed this change too, and he would have to work hard to remain undetected.

After a murder came a bout of lies.

Such was his life, it would seem.